Peru has launched its Covid-19 vaccination campaign with newly arrived doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine, as the South American country struggles to control a fierce second wave of infections that has forced a lockdown in the capital Lima.

Health officials kicked off the program in the intensive care unit of Lima's Arzobispo Loayza Hospital, authorities said, where medical staff were slated to receive the first of 300,000 doses delivered by Sinopharm on Sunday.

According to Reuters, the country plans to begin immediately inoculating one million health officials, police and military personnel, among others, the government said, in a first round of vaccinations that will likely run through March.

Peru will then vaccinate 5.3m elderly people, those suffering from pre-existing conditions and its native communities.